Chief girls fall at No. 1 St. Ignace

Friday

Feb 22, 2013 at 11:07 PM

St. Ignace, who is ranked first in the Associated Press' Class D poll, improved to a perfect 19-0, while the Chiefs ended their regular season at 10-9. Brooke Hancock led the Chiefs with six points and four rebounds, while Macey Charboneau added six points, and Mariah Rozek scored four points and had four assists. Others chipping in for the Chiefs were Jessica Smith (four points), Sam Buhr (two points, four rebounds) and Bridget Blaskowski (three assists).

ST. IGNACE — Kelley Wright has been a thorn in the Cheboygan Chiefs' side for years now. That trend continued on Thursday night as the St. Ignace junior guard scored a game-high 24 points to lead the top-ranked Saints to a 75-28 victory over Cheboygan in the annual 'Hooping for a Cure' game played in St. Ignace. Wright's big night helped her surpass 1,000 points for her career. Wright now has 1,008 points career points.Wright, who knocked down five 3-pointers in the contest, helped the Saints (19-0) take a commanding 45-11 lead into halftime. "She had a huge first half against us, but we really didn't defend her well," Cheboygan girls' basketball coach Jason Purcell said of Wright. "Kelley really had some easy looks when we were trying to defend her, to make her the second or third option. It was 8-5 in the first few minutes, but then she really went off on us, and it became contagious."While the Chiefs struggled mightily in the first half, Purcell said the team improved in the second half. "We passed up eight or nine shots where girls just seemed to want to make a pass, instead of just shooting the ball," he said. "We did a much better job in the second half, creating shots and getting good looks at the basket.""Our transition defense was also much better. I think there's a few things we can fix up before we compete in districts on Monday."St. Ignace, who is ranked first in the Associated Press' Class D poll, improved to a perfect 19-0, while the Chiefs ended their regular season at 10-9. Brooke Hancock led the Chiefs with six points and four rebounds, while Macey Charboneau added six points, and Mariah Rozek scored four points and had four assists. Others chipping in for the Chiefs were Jessica Smith (four points), Sam Buhr (two points, four rebounds) and Bridget Blaskowski (three assists). The Chiefs will look to keep their season alive when they travel to face Grayling in a Class B District 63 quarterfinal contest on Monday. Gametime is set for 7 p.m. in Grayling. If the Chiefs win, they will host Ogemaw Heights in the district semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Chiefs have claimed two district titles in the last two seasons by capturing victories over the Vikings in the final. "We expect another good game with Grayling," Purcell said of Monday's contest. "The last two years have been two really good games, so we expect it to be the same way. Their record is very similar to ours, so it will be a huge test for us on Monday."Meanwhile, Autumn Hudak scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Cheboygan junior varsity team in a 46-40 loss to St. Ignace on Thursday. In the contest, Brooke Beaubien finished with six points, Ashley Hempenstall scored five, Kaitlin Dobrowolski had four, Katie Swiderek and Carolyn Clark tallied three, and Hannah Hudak netted two. The JV Chiefs finished with a 12-7 record on the season.